1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector for making a branch circuit for connecting an outlet line from the main to a plurality of electric wires from devices and, more particularly, to a connector having a primary terminal and a plurality of secondary terminals accommodated in a housing thereof and a joint terminal made by an electrically conductive plate for branching the primary terminal to connect the secondary terminals. In the present invention, the connector with a simplified construction is provided for easily making a branch connection between terminals only by inserting the joint terminal to the connector housing, so that the number of required component parts as well as the difficulties of the operation can be reduced.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In FIGS. 6, 7A, and 7B, a conventional connector of this kind, for example, proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. H2-21107 published May 11, 1990 is shown.
The conventional connector has a cover housing 2 with a joint terminal 1 having a plurality of joint contacts 1b planted therein with a predetermined pitch and a connector housing 3 engagable to the cover housing 2. The connector housing 3 has a plurality of terminal cavities 3a formed therein each for receiving a solderless terminal 6 crimped to a primary line 5A or a plurality of secondary lines 5B. In FIG. 6, only one of secondary lines 5B is shown for the sake of brevity. When thus assembled connector housing 3 is engaged to the cover housing 2, the primary line 5A is connected to each of secondary lines 5B in parallel through the joint terminal 1.
As best shown in FIG. 7B, joint contacts 1b are mutually connected by a connection part la and are arranged on plural lines, for example two, parallel to each other. The joint contact 1b extends longitudinally below the connected part thereof so as to form a root portion 1c. Thus formed joint terminal 1 is inserted with a pressure toward the bottom portion 2a of the cover housing 2 such that root portions 1c are engaged with corresponding channels 2b formed in the bottom portion 2a. Thus assembled cover connector 2 is used for the electrical connection of the terminals.
The solderless terminal 6 has a contact part 6a formed on the top end thereof for the electrical connection with the joint terminal 1. The contact part 6a has a pair of spring parts 6a-1 and 6a-2 opposing to each other. When the connector housing 3 with terminals 6 is engaged with the cover housing 2, each of joint contact 1b is received between the spring parts 6a-1 and 6a-2, and the primary line 5A is branched and connected to each of the secondary lines 5B in parallel through the joint terminal 1.
In conventional connectors, there are many parts such as joint terminal 1 made of metallic material, cover housing 2, connector housing 3, and solder less terminals 6 are necessary. As the number of necessary components increases, the number of operations required for preparing the connector, resulting in the increased cost. It is to be noted that the cover housing 2 should be equipped with a joint terminal 1 having required number of electrode members having joint contacts 1b and root parts 1c, and the connector housing 3 should also be equipped with solderless terminals 6, respectively, before the engaging operation therebetween.
Furthermore, it is impossible to completely install and fix the joint terminal 1 to the cover housing 2 such that the root parts 1c are pressure inserted to the channels 2b formed in the bottom of the cover housing 2, even if any part of the joint terminal 1, made by a metal plate, is deformed. Particularly, in a multi-electrodes connector having a plurality of joint contacts 1c, it is very difficult to set root parts 1c and corresponding channels 2b on aligned positions, causing the great difficulties in the assembling work by the operator.